Nigerian voters: cash shortage will affect voting

Nigerians take to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president in a high-stakes vote not just for Nigeria but for its West African neighbours in the politically unstable region Nigeria's election commission said Thursday it now has received much of the cash it needs to carry out this weekend’s elections, dismissing concerns that the vote would be postponed because of the country's banknote crisis.

Meanwhile, though, Nigerians continued to line up at banks across Africa's most populous nation, unable to withdraw their money. The shortages fuelled fears that voters could have trouble getting to their polling stations on Saturday.

Authorities have in the past delayed Nigeria's last two presidential elections, but the Independent National Electoral Commission said Thursday that election materials and staffers were being deployed to more than 175,000 voting units across Nigeria.